Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for August 16, 2020

Wisdom-Driven Praying

Proverbs 30:7-9

1. Background

• only recorded prayer in Proverbs
• words of Agur (“reverence”) in 30:1-33
• affirmations in 30:1-6: our inability apart from God and God alone as the source of true wisdom

2. Observe the character of the requests 7

• praying with the intensity of a dying sinner
• two specific requests with one amplification

3. Observe the content of the requests 8

• remove far from me falsehood and lying (words)
• give me neither poverty nor riches (possessions)
• amplification: feed me with the food needful

4. Observe the considerations behind the requests 9

• exemplary prayer
• full…deny…desertion
• poor…steal…desecration

5. So What?

• Knowing that God is the sole and all-sufficient source of wisdom, depend on His provision and desire His glory.
• Prioritize dependence on God.
• Pursue the glory of God.
• Connection to the NT and to Christ: Matt. 6:9-13
• “All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living Bread…” (Crosby)